Hello to group:

Well, I made a big mistake. I hired a contractor to dig out the
basement floor 18", install a perimeter drain, put down a compacted
stone bed and water barrier, then pour a new cement floor.

The floor came out great. Sump works fine.

Problem is, the contractor assured me that I had enough foundation to
do this project. There wasn't.

Now I have about 8" of exposed soil at the floor! What can I do to
shore this up before the dirt underneath the foundation walls washes
out?

I thought of putting in rebar and puring a pony wall, but maybe thats
overkill.

Suggestions?

Wow, your screwed. I'm at a loss for once. I suppose I would build up a
wall, sitting on the new floor, up maybe 16" and out maybe 6" reinforce
with rebar and anchored to the exiting wall and floor. It wouldn't
really be structural but would certainly keep the dirt from under the
foundation from pouring out.

Why didn't the guy stop when he realized he was undermining your
foundation?
Why didn't you stop him before he got too far?
Just curious.

In article , PR man says...

Hello to group:

Well, I made a big mistake. I hired a contractor to dig out the
basement floor 18", install a perimeter drain, put down a compacted
stone bed and water barrier, then pour a new cement floor.

The floor came out great. Sump works fine.

Problem is, the contractor assured me that I had enough foundation to
do this project. There wasn't.

Now I have about 8" of exposed soil at the floor! What can I do to
shore this up before the dirt underneath the foundation walls washes
out?

I thought of putting in rebar and puring a pony wall, but maybe thats
overkill.

Suggestions?

I guess I'm having trouble picturing this... where is the exposed soil exactly?

Banty

Wow, if I'm understanding correctly, you need to report that
imbecile asap and get him back out to fix it gratis. Unless you
told him it was OK to do that? Reread the contract: You might
have a leg to stand on there! You might look at what's on the
bulding-permit paperwork, too. I think he screwed up big time
unless I'm not understanding the situation!
I wonder if that's an occupancy issue down the road?



"PR man" wrote in message
5...
: Hello to group:
:
: Well, I made a big mistake. I hired a contractor to dig out
the
: basement floor 18", install a perimeter drain, put down a
compacted
: stone bed and water barrier, then pour a new cement floor.
:
: The floor came out great. Sump works fine.
:
: Problem is, the contractor assured me that I had enough
foundation to
: do this project. There wasn't.
:
: Now I have about 8" of exposed soil at the floor! What can I do
to
: shore this up before the dirt underneath the foundation walls
washes
: out?
:
: I thought of putting in rebar and puring a pony wall, but maybe
thats
: overkill.
:
: Suggestions?

You had the floor "lowered" to give you more head room in the
basement?

When the bottom of the footing started to be exposed, that was the time
to stop.

What you have now is a perimeter foundation wall "supported" by a
sliver of unconfined soil. I assume this is a realtively recent
condition?

How thick was the floor slab made & how much steel?

You could form up a stub wall around the edge of the slab up about 16"
or so & dowel into the existing wall......not an ideal condtion but
short of pouring another foot of concrete?

Better get a civil engineer out to take a look at the condition

cheers
Bob

Wow. So are we all undersanding you right?!?

I think if it were my house (which it isn't, b/c I would never let it
get that far).., I'd do one of two things:

Pour 8'' of fill down (whatever is appropriate: 6" gravel + 2" sand, or
something, compacted real well), then put down a new 4" concrete floor
on top, bringing your floor back up to 6" above the bottom of the
footer.

Alternatively, I'd do your stem wall idea, but make the wall 16" thick
and 16" high, and pin it very securely to both the existing wall and
the new floor. This is a distant second place, though, because it is
unlikely the new floor perimeter was meant to take any significant
load. And, it would be a real pain to get them pinned together real
well -- I suppose you'd have a lot of drilling to do -- hundreds of
holes, at least.